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Thursday, 27 September 2012

Aubergine "Hummous"

Can you have Aubergine Hummous? Or does Hummous have to be made with Chick Peas? Who cares anyway? I have used some of my home-grown Aubergines to make a Hummous-like substance...

Amazingly, despite the cooler weather we are now experiencing, the Aubergine plants are still surviving. They don't look so special, but they definitely have not given up yet:

Both plants still have a number of small fruits on them:

I had six smallish Aubergines in the fridge that needed using up, so I decided to make them into a dish a bit like Hummous. As usual I didn't follow a recipe, I just used my instinct. This is what I did:

I chopped a small red onion and softened it in about a tablespoonful of sunflower oil in a frying-pan. When the onion was soft I added the following:-

4 small cloves of garlic, chopped

6 small aubergines, chopped into 1-inch sections

2 large tomatoes, peeled and de-seeded

1 small chilli, de-seeded and chopped

a squeeze of tomato puree

a small pinch of ground cumin and some salt and pepper

about 150ml chicken stock

I cooked the mixture over a low heat for about 30 minutes, by which time the stock had been absorbed and the aubergines had gone very soft.

I turned off the heat and allowed the mixture to cool for a few minutes before blitzing it in the food-processor until it became a smooth paste, which I decanted into a suitable dish and garnished with parsley and some fresh chilli.

This dish can be used just like Hummous, ideally spread thickly on some herby flat-breads. It was surprisingly pleasant. Tasty; almost creamy in texture, without any of the bitterness or sliminess that I often associate with aubergines. I say that because you know that until recently I have been rather anti aubergines in general. I was particularly pleased that when my daughter Emma tried it she declared it to be "absolutely lovely" - and that comes from someone who I would say is normally even less likely than me to praise the aubergine.

I make Baba Ganoush with my eggplants every year, although I tend to cook mine whole. Personally I find eggplant to be both the nicest thing to eat or the most hideous - undercooked eggplant can be truly vile in my book.

I just happen to be in possession of about 10 2-inch aubergines (eggplants to those of us in the colonies of course). I have been looking for something to do with them. This recipe designates you as today's good Samaritan.